96 WOOD AND GARDEN 



copse. In March the bulbs, which are only just under- 

 ground, thrust their sharply-pointed bottle-green tips 

 out of the earth. These soon expand into heart-shaped 

 leaves, looking much like Arum foliage of the largest 

 size, and of a bright-green colour and glistening sur- 

 face. The groups are so placed that they never see 

 the morning sun. They require a slight sheltering 

 of fir-bough, or anything suitable, till the third week 

 of May, to protect the young leaves from the late 

 frosts. In June the flower-stem shoots up straight 

 and tall, like a vigorous young green-stemmed tree. 

 If the bulb is strong and the conditions suitable, it 

 will attain a height of over eleven feet, but among the 

 flowering bulbs of a group there are sure to be some 

 of various heights from differently sized bulbs ; those 

 whose stature is about ten feet are perhaps the hand- 

 somest. The upper part of the stem bears the grace- 

 fully droopiug great white Lily flowers, each bloom 

 some ten inches long, greenish when in bud, but chang- 

 ing to white when fully developed. Inside each petal 

 is a purplish-red stripe. In the evening the scent seems 

 to pour out of the great white trumpets, and is almost 

 overpowering, but gains a delicate quality by passing 

 through the air, and at fifty yards away is like a faint 

 waft of incense. In the evening light, when the sun 

 is down, the great heads of white flower have a mys- 

 terious and impressive effect when seen at some distance 

 through the wood, and by moonlight have a strangely 

 weird dignity. The flowers only last a few days, but 



